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- Lloyd’s of London’s combined ratio improved to 83.7% in the first half of 2024
- The insurance market also increased its pre-tax profit from £3.9 billion to £4.9 billion.
Lloyd’s of London has reported its best underwriting performance since 2007, along with a £1bn rise in profits.
The commercial insurance market revealed that its combined ratio (the difference between written premiums and payouts) improved to 83.7 percent in the first half of 2024, compared to 85.2 percent a year earlier.
Any number below 100 percent indicates a profit.
Lloyd’s also increased its pre-tax profit to £4.9 billion from £3.9 billion, which it attributed to “resilient underlying profitability across the market”.
Strong performance: Lloyd’s of London revealed that its combined ratio (the difference between written premiums and payouts) improved to 83.7 percent in the first half of 2024
It delivered an investment return of £2.1bn, supported by healthy returns in fixed-income assets and growing equity markets amid falling inflation and expectations of interest rate cuts.
Gross written premiums also rose 6.5 per cent to £30.6bn, largely thanks to rising volumes, with Lloyd’s particularly benefiting from new entrants to the market such as Aviva and Fidelis.
Insurer Aviva returned to the Lloyd’s market after an absence of more than two decades when it agreed a £242m deal in March to buy underwriting syndicate Probitas.
The FTSE 100 company said the acquisition would help accelerate the growth of its general insurance business, including its global corporate and specialist division.
Lloyd’s chief executive John Neal praised the “superb set of results”, adding that it “represents a combination of disciplined underwriting, smart organic growth and real strength in Lloyd’s balance sheet.”
‘This is good news for both investors in the Lloyd’s insurance market and our clients as we continue to support them in an increasingly risky world.’
Neal’s comments come alongside other comments he made warning against huge tax increases by the new Labour government.
He told the Financial time“We have to be careful. I am concerned about companies that want to list in the UK and establish themselves formally here.”
Neal added that if corporate and personal taxes were raised too much, Britain would be “a very difficult place to set up home and do business”.
The government is expected to announce major tax rises in its next budget on October 30 to close what it says is a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances.
During the general election campaign, Labour promised not to raise income tax, VAT and National Insurance, but did not rule out increases in capital gains and inheritance tax.
He has also pledged to levy VAT and business rates on private schools, increase the one-off tax on North Sea oil and gas production and close loopholes in the non-resident scheme.
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